"The project was all about 100 years of Ford," said ESS project manager Rob Smalldon, "and was one of the most challenging projects I've been involved with for some time."
From the ground, the structure rose 34m with a width of 25m. Edwin Shirley Trucking (EST) shipped in 217m of regular roof truss, 126m of LT Tower Truss, 604m of cabling and 102 bespoke purlins in a total of 16 trucks. The ESS team had less than three weeks on-site to build the complex structure and mount the cars on the steeply sloping display. Smalldon said: "We built the main structure in three parts using 100-tonne and 50-tonne cranes in a tandem lift. In total, the crane work took 14 crane-days and the entire project a total of 76 man-days to install. Our guys really pulled out all the stops!"
Under the base of the structure, Water Sculptures installed a 52,000-litre water tank which, via a series of high pressure pumps and pipes, fed water to be sprayed from underneath the cars during the performance - giving the impression of the cars racing on a very wet track - as in 1966. With the pumps running for 15 minutes every half-hour, 40,000 litres of water were sprayed into the atmosphere each day.
By night, the sculpture was lit by Starlight Design, who employed a row of 12 Martin MAC 600 washlights at ground level, plus a further six MAC 600s and a pair of Starlite Mk 5s on each of two lighting towers positioned 25m away. The cars themselves were picked out with Robert Juliat 400W profiles. In addition to the Ford structure, Starlight also supplied equipment for the Ford Centenary Marquee, plus stage lighting for the Pretenders, who headlined the Earl of March's private party on the Friday night. Starlight's project manager was Ian Bakker.
CT Screenco supplied four screens to the event in total - a 30sq.m Barco DLite 10 for the Porsche Café, a 32sq.m Screenco Mobile screen for the Activity Field and two 40sq.m Screenco Mobile screens, including one for the cricket pitch.
In addition to this, CT supplied an OB vehicle with Beta playback, PC graphics system, hard disc recorder and radio communication systems for the playback of advertisements, sponsors' logos and emergency messages for marshals and staff. The company has been involved with the Goodwood Festival of Speed since the event's inception, this year being its tenth anniversary event.
